Honduras Ethnic Groups

THE YORO INDIGENOUS TRIBES FEDERATION (FETRINY)The Yoro Indigenous Tribes Federation (FETRINY) operated until 1984 and in 1985 the Yoro Tribes Federation (FETRIXY), known as a strongest and belligerent organization. The FETRIXY is also well known for being the most developed organization for the Garifuna ethnicities. It has formed 47 communities in the departments of Cortés, Atlántida, Islas de Bahía, Colón and Gracias a Dios. They have a population of 350,000 inhabitants including population groups settled in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa. The FETRIXY is also represented in Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.

Garifuna People

GARIFUNA PEOPLEMost of the Garifuna communities are located in coastal areas close to the urban areas of Puerto Cortes, Tela, La Ceiba, and Trujillo. According to Ruy Galván, during the XVII and XIX centuries, several Negro contingents arrived in Honduras. At present, however, two large groups of Afro-Caribbean blacks are identified: the Garifuna and English-speaking Blacks. The later settled primarily in the Bay Islands, La Ceiba, & Atlántida. Each group had its cultural peculiarities. Most of these Afro-Caribs were brought from Africa as slaves to work originally in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. The initial populations are estimated to of approximate 20,800 inhabitants.

The Garifunas, also known in their native tongue as "Garinagu," which in Castilian means "Black Caribes," have their origin in the Island of Yurumain also known as San Vicente, in the smaller Antillas off the coasts of Venezuela. The Garinagu are descendants of Caribbean Arawakas, and black Africans, who arrived on the island escaping slavery. According to oral tradition, they are descended from the African ethnic groups Efik, Ibo, Fons, Ashanti, Yoruba and Congo, abducted from the coastal regions of West Africa (corresponding to the modern states of Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Congo) by Spanish and Portuguese slave traders. In the 17th century, several vessels sailed off Yurumain Island (San Vicente) The Caribs slaves took refuge and gradually interbred with native Carib Indians.

Organization development began in 1977 with the organizational development of the Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRENEH), which went through several stages, among them the Sociedad Garífuna Hondureña (SOGANAH) and others that were later dissolved for different reasons, finally formed what is now known as the OFRANEH.

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The Pech (Paya) People

THE PECH (PAYA)The Pech Son an ethnic group composed of nine tribes that are: The Vallecito, the Pueblo Nuevo, the Subirana, Agua Zarca, Culuco, Jocomico, and the Pisijire In the municipality of Dulce Nombre de Culmí. Then we have Santa María del Carbón in the municipality of San Esteban which is in the department of Olancho. And finally, Silin in the municipality of Trujillo, department of Gracias a Dios.

Los Pech, although they have been historically subjected to the process of acculturation, they still preserve their language and part of their customs that are manifested in foods, drinks and musical instruments. For example, the Tempuka (a kind of long drum), and the camachá (similar to the maraca). The Pech depend on the agriculture, hunting, and fishing for their subsistence. Their main crops are cassava, beans, and corn. From these foods, beverages are also made and fermented to produce alcoholic intoxicants. They also practice breeding domestic animals. The extraction of the resin from the liquidambar tree, and the production of handicrafts.

The Pech are also known pejoratively as PAYAS. They do not have a known origin as its evolution is lost between history and myth. They are likely descendants of the CHIBCHAS, since the speakers of this language left South America probably 3,000 years ago and settled down along the road between Colombia and Central America. By the time they came into contact with the Spaniards, the Pech had a socio-economic level and a political system almost equal to that of its neighboring tribes (Tawahkas, Tolupanes, etc.).

During the colony, they extended from the Aguán to the Patuca River in northeastern Honduras. In pre-Hispanic times they stretched from the north of the Aguán River to the end of Gracias a Dios. The Pech (or Paya) language is identified as a language of the macro-chibchade, which is a language of South American origin. The first Pech congress promoted by the Higher School of Teachers, Francisco Morazán, which took place between November 29th and 30th of 1885 in the Community of Subirana.